Review: Double Blindby
Heidi Cullinan

Okay. I fucking love Heidi Cullinan and I think I want to have her
baby.

I'll confess: I was blown away by SPECIAL DELIVERY...
which at first glance (trucker & twink crosscountry) had all the makings of
crappy semi-porno, but actually turned out to be every bit as
raunchy and sweet as I could have
wanted. A genuinely superb LGBT romance with teeth and heart and a big fat hardon.

But...

DOUBLE BLIND just knocks that
shit out of the water. Again, looking at the blurb I sort of cringed
at the stylized setup (man down on his luck in Vegas falls in with
truckers and mobsters. Oof!) and the potential for über-crap, but
her goddamn skill and clarity saves it every time.

This book gives us an unlovable dirtbag and a end-of-his-rope
loser and makes us not just care about them but
root for them. In a kind of wild
abandon, she serves up metric tons of Vegas clichés, but without
them ever feeling overfamiliar, because she reimagines them all
lovingly for her fractured protagonists. There are business
deals and hidden homo-history for minor characters and even tacky
statuary as a major plot element. And just cause Cullinan knows how to
build a full-on environment for her characters and her readers, she
serves up funky and intriguing detail about the world of casinos, just
as the first book had these crazy facts about trucking... so that
the world kind of congeals around you and the characters. Real skill
and a deft hand at work on every page.

Heidi Cullinan reinvents a skeevy character from SPECIAL
DELIVERY in a completely satisfying and surprising
way. Plus builds on the primary
relationship introduced in that book without destroying what made it
so satisfying. And again with the
sweetness and raunchiness that has this funny way of sneaking up on
you. Hot sex that doesn't feel like it's written out of a catalog by
a robot. Every moment of filthy/endearing erotica advances plot and
character and empathy...

The thing is... Cullinan writes with joy and appetite and glee,
and they're downright infectious. Her verve and zest for these
strange men and their unfamiliar (to me) circumstances make me feel
like the books extend beyond their pages... which is the mark of the
best genre writing. Gorgeous.

If you haven't read these two books, you're ass-crazy and you
must go do that now. Go ahead... I'm waiting. SPECIAL
DELIVERY. Seriously. And then DOUBLE BLIND.
Call me a liar, I double-dog dare you.MM-mm good is right.

Sheesh. I just went and bought copies of HERO and everything else
I could find(which I'll be reading, stat) to support her career.
I may even write the woman an embarassing letter of appreciation.
She is a treasure and she's getting better, polishing her own
mettle.